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A fantail flitted about our heads, its joyous, reassuring, relaxed warble giving a lie to the delirium and frenzy of spring all about us. Birds dashing to and fro, a symphony of birdsong, males of the species showing off a fresh moult of spring plumage to dazzle the eye. It was one of those glorious early days in spring, when for the first time the sun shines strong and hard to announce that winter has finally been confined to  painful memory, when an epidemic of flu and a … [Read more...] about Fantails and ginger cake

Angry plovers have been getting a “buzz” out of disrupting – even for brief moments – the lives of visitors to the Waterworks Reserve in recent weeks. It’s a familiar story across the parks and paddocks of Tasmania at this time of the year. Walk across open space and sure enough the plovers will squawk noisily and then take to the wing to feign attack. I saw feign attack because the plovers never inflict damage or injury. The aerial bombardment is merely meant to drive away … [Read more...] about Angry plovers take to the skies

Birds do not gamble in the lottery of life. Although their movements and behaviour might appear random, they do not live on a wing and a prayer. Every move is deliberate and calculated to ensure survival for such seemingly frail and vulnerable creatures in an often hostile world. The certainties of bird behaviour have certainly been put to the test, however, by a family of Tasmanian native-hens who have made their home in an area that would appear unconducive to their … [Read more...] about The lottery of bird life

Birdwatchers are known for the checklists they keep of birds spotted during their lifetimes, but the only one that really matters to me is the tally I have from my garden. With a remarkable 52 species (not including introduced ones) I thought I had reached the limit with the sighting of a male pink robin last winter. A surprise awaited me this winter, however, returning home from a birding foray to the Waterworks Reserve. A pair of wood ducks were perched in a white … [Read more...] about Wood ducks fly into a garden checklist

The Inverawe Native Gardens at Margate hosted a gardening-for-birds workshop at the start of spring to reveal the secrets of success in luring birds to the backyard. Over the years I have kept a close watch on both the garden’s growth and development and its growing checklist of birds spotted, which has now reached a remarkable 102 species for what used to be a patch of wasteland not more than a 20-minute drive from Hobart. I once added a species myself –  a grey teal out … [Read more...] about Bird garden secret of success